In recent years, recruitment agencies have become quite popular due to companies and organizations choosing to focus on their main business activities rather than spending valuable time and money undertaking recruitment (depending on the company size and its industry, the cost per hire can go from $3,000 to $5,000). Popularity aside, the role played by the recruitment agencies is very important. The recruiting agencies help different businesses and organizations address one of their crucial concerns – looking for outstanding talent for their vacancies.
The recruitment agencies are the best way for companies to achieve operational excellence if they have difficulties finding and hiring top talent for their open positions. These job positions can be either temporary or permanent, depending on what the company plans on doing: working on a specific project, entering a new market, launching offices, or expanding operations.
So, how to choose the right recruiting agency? How to ensure that you have a successful working experience with a chosen recruitment agency? These and other questions will be answered in this blog post, so make sure to stick around! Ready to start? Contact CIBR Warriors for the fastest way to qualified employees!
How to Select the Right Recruiting Agency?
We’ve made a list of the five most important steps you need to go through to ensure you’ve chosen the best recruiting agency for your company. They are:
1. Narrow Down Your Search on the Recruiting Agency That Fits Your Criteria
This is probably the most important step of all, and if done right, it will help you on the succeeding steps later on. First of all, consider what type of recruitment agency you need? If you’re looking to fill a temporary or a contractual job position, then a staffing agency is your best option. But, if you’re looking to fill an executive role, then a headhunter agency might be the one you need.
However, if you’re looking to fill a full-time job position, then a traditional recruiting agency is what you should opt for. It is good to know that there are also niche recruiting agencies. As opposed to traditional ones, the niche recruiting agencies have the edge to find highly skilled, top talent who fully specialize in their fields. The niche recruiting agencies are the best for this particular situation because they understand the talent gaps in the industry market and help fill job positions faster by providing talent best suited for such specialty jobs.
2. Be Clear and Concise When Explaining Your Hiring Needs
The second step in choosing the right recruitment agency for your company is to elaborate on your business needs. It is best to be as clear and concise as possible about this, so the recruitment agency knows exactly what type of talent to look for. The best thing is to plan what you’re going to talk about before contacting a recruiting agency. Think of answering these questions:
- Do you need to fill one or more job positions?
- What roles are you trying to fill?
- Are these positions permanent or temporary?
- Is it management or entry-level?
- What kind of previous experience do you want the potential candidate to have?
These questions will help the agency in its search for the perfect talent for your organization. Also, don’t avoid talking about your company, as well. Some points to discuss are company background, your mission and vision statement, company values, corporate culture, detailed description of the work environment, and more. And if you think it’s too tedious to go into detail on such topics, it’s not! All of this is necessary if you really want to get the best of the best talent in the market.
3. Interview the Recruitment Agency
Don’t shy away from interviewing the recruitment agency just like they are the candidate themselves. During the second step, they had time to get to know your company, now it is your turn to find more about them. Try asking the following questions:
- How long have you’ve been running?
- For whom have you been working so far?
- How long does it take you to find the right talent?
- What is your hiring process?
These and similar questions will give you an immediate impression of whether this recruiting agency is capable of meeting your company’s needs. Don’t hesitate to dig deeper into their background. Their preparedness to answer all of your questions will reveal how prepared and professional they are, as well.
4. See How Agency’s Recruiters Work
Asking about how an agency operates is one thing, but seeing it in person is another. So, the fourth step in choosing the right recruiting agency for you is to check the experience of their staff. There are several ways to check this:
- You can talk to the agency recruiters directly and ask what their methods are. What do they do to pre-screen potential candidates? Are they doing it in-person, or is it conducted via phone, or maybe online?
- You can also ask agency recruiters how they are sourcing qualified candidates. Searching for candidates on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn is given, and it is effective since there are always individuals looking for employment. However, social media platforms represent only a portion of the talent market.
A good recruiter will know that there are more passive candidates than active ones globally (70%, according to LinkedIn) and that these candidates can bring higher ROI than active ones. Such candidates have more experience overall and are generally in demand. The actual challenge is that they aren’t looking for a new job, but they are interested in hearing more about career opportunities elsewhere. If the recruiter is good at their job, they will know what to say to convince them to move eventually.
- You can also check the agency’s testimonials and the feedback on the internet. There will certainly be reviews by previous clients stating their opinions on working with the agency.
5. Make Sure It’s Within the Budget
This is a no-brainer for business, but it’s nevertheless important to mention. Once you are certain an agency has ticked all the boxes above, then make sure if you can afford their services. This is a crucial step to consider. You know that they can provide you with the top talent, now you just have to discuss the numbers.
Talk to your HR team and superiors (if you have them) about this. Will it be worth it for your company to work with this agency? Is it within the budget? How badly do you need to fill in the job position? All of this can influence your decision.
You can always look at their prices before you contact them if you don’t want to waste your time getting to know them just to realize they are too expensive for you. You can find the info on their prices online (listed on their website) or by going through online reviews. You can also ask them directly once you decide to contact them. In any case, it is always important to inquire about their services, terms and conditions, and, naturally, their prices.
The recruitment agency fees also vary depending on the job position you want to fill. Agencies take into account these factors:
- Number of job positions to be filled;
- Type of industry;
- Type of job position;
- Type of job hire (temporary, permanent, etc.);
- The salary, and more.
Conclusion
Recruitment agencies can help businesses find the perfect candidate, especially when the position they are filling is technical or specialized. However, it is up to a company to choose the right recruitment agency before they get to work on finding the top talent. We hope this guide has managed to answer some of your questions and help you properly choose the right agency for you. Hundreds of new candidates are looking for job openings every day, and CIBR Warriors are there to help you find the right one for you. For more help on advancing your career or finding a perfect candidate in IT and Cybersecurity, contact us. We’d be happy to answer your questions and provide you with the best advice for getting started.